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Why are the British confused about us calling bread rolls “biscuits” when they call bread rolls “puddings”?
Marko Smith
I have never heard a British person EVER call a bread roll a `pudding`. We DO have arguments….mostly of a regional nature. I`ve heard bread rolls called both baps and barmcakes, for instance. But never, ever, a `pudding`. You are misinformed. Or perhaps you are confusing the term with something elseRead more
I have never heard a British person EVER call a bread roll a `pudding`.
We DO have arguments….mostly of a regional nature. I`ve heard bread rolls called both baps and barmcakes, for instance. But never, ever, a `pudding`. You are misinformed.
Or perhaps you are confusing the term with something else…dessert, afters, or whatever you call the sweet course in the US.
I have many times had a nice scone for pudding. `Pudding `being a common ( if now dated) term used for the second course. It is not the name of the confectionary itself, though, but an indication that it follows the main, usually savoury, course.
See lessWhy are the British confused about us calling bread rolls “biscuits” when they call bread rolls “puddings”?
Barry Carter
Calling a bread roll a “biscuit” really takes the biscuit. The word comes from French, meaning “twice cooked” (bis – cuit). Are bread rolls twice cooked? Of course modern biscuits aren’t twice cooked either but they were originally. As far as I know no Briton calls a bread roll a pudding, though weRead more
Calling a bread roll a “biscuit” really takes the biscuit. The word comes from French, meaning “twice cooked” (bis – cuit). Are bread rolls twice cooked? Of course modern biscuits aren’t twice cooked either but they were originally.
As far as I know no Briton calls a bread roll a pudding, though we do call them lots of other things in different parts of the country, e.g. Baps, Stotties, Buns, Rolls, Bin Lids, Cobs, Batches, Bulkies, Barms, Teacakes, Butties, Nudgers and Blaas (not a complete list).
See lessWhy are the British confused about us calling bread rolls “biscuits” when they call bread rolls “puddings”?
John Peter
Most British people understand that the English and American English have drifted slightly away, so that we have different definitions of words. Now, to the British people who insists our naming is incorrect, they need to understand that our language is not the same. Please don’t try to tell me thatRead more
Most British people understand that the English and American English have drifted slightly away, so that we have different definitions of words.
Now, to the British people who insists our naming is incorrect, they need to understand that our language is not the same. Please don’t try to tell me that we speak the same language, because in all honesty we don’t. However, our languages are incredibly similar.
See lessWhy are the British confused about us calling bread rolls “biscuits” when they call bread rolls “puddings”?
James Wane
We aren’t, and we don’t. You are misinformed. In Britain, the word ‘biscuit’ means a hard baked cookie, like a graham cracker. Since this is the normal use of this word in the UK, we don’t automatically think of the plain scone-type baked goods for which Americans use the word ‘biscuit’. US EnglishRead more
We aren’t, and we don’t. You are misinformed.
In Britain, the word ‘biscuit’ means a hard baked cookie, like a graham cracker. Since this is the normal use of this word in the UK, we don’t automatically think of the plain scone-type baked goods for which Americans use the word ‘biscuit’. US English is a different dialect of English, and there are many words which have different meanings from U.K. English (jumper, braces, suspenders, tap etc.)
What on earth makes you think we call bread rolls ‘puddings’? In the U.K., pudding is any dessert, not just the blancmange-stuff which Americans use that word for. It is correct in the U.K. to say “I’m having apple pie for pudding.”.
See lessHow do native speakers tell I’m foreign based on my English alone?
James Wane
Because non-native speakers use English differently as compared to native speakers. It’s… it’s as simple as that. I can also usually tell within the first few moments of talking to somebody on the internet whether they are from a native English-speaking country or not. They’ll use slightly differentRead more
Because non-native speakers use English differently as compared to native speakers. It’s… it’s as simple as that.
I can also usually tell within the first few moments of talking to somebody on the internet whether they are from a native English-speaking country or not. They’ll use slightly different phrasing. Use of idioms is also a dead giveaway.
I dunno. It’s usually patently obvious. This doesn’t make a non-native English speaker’s English bad by any stretch; just different.
I can also generally tell where native English speakers are from as well, at least in a general sense. Canadians tend to sound like Americans (even in writing) but spell more like the Brits. British persons obviously use British English and will use British colloquiums and the word ‘whilst’ often will pop up. Australians lean heavy on the word ‘mate’ a lot of the time. Americans use American spellings and sound like Americans.
And so on.
See lessHow do native speakers tell I’m foreign based on my English alone?
Barry Carter
You probably have strange grammar. Pretty much every language has a different grammar style than English, as far as I know. Don’t know Malaysian, so I can’t answer that specific part. But based on your question, you have better grammar than most on the internet. So that could be it, that you’re “tooRead more
You probably have strange grammar. Pretty much every language has a different grammar style than English, as far as I know. Don’t know Malaysian, so I can’t answer that specific part. But based on your question, you have better grammar than most on the internet. So that could be it, that you’re “too perfect.” Could be an accent, too. Or idioms, those things are pretty funny.
See lessHow do native speakers tell I’m foreign based on my English alone?
John Peter
It may be little things like not using native idioms, that you would pick up from living in the UK. But, hey. That’s just a guess. Also, I don’t think I would’ve noticed you were foreign from what you wrote, if you didn’t point it out.
It may be little things like not using native idioms, that you would pick up from living in the UK.
But, hey. That’s just a guess.
Also, I don’t think I would’ve noticed you were foreign from what you wrote, if you didn’t point it out.
See lessIs this statement, “i see him last night” can be understood as “I saw him last night”?
Marko Smith
You are correct that both are understandable. The only other possible everyday meaning I could think of would be ‘I see him [in my mind’s eye] last night’; that is, I am, at this very moment, imagining him last night. But it should almost always be clear from context which one is intended. ‘Correct’Read more
You are correct that both are understandable.
The only other possible everyday meaning I could think of would be ‘I see him [in my mind’s eye] last night’; that is, I am, at this very moment, imagining him last night. But it should almost always be clear from context which one is intended.
‘Correct’ doesn’t mean ‘understandable’, though. If I say ‘Me want have fooding’ it’s pretty clear what to understand from that, but it’s not anywhere near correct Standard English grammar. If you lived somewhere where you spoke a dialect of English in which this was acceptable grammar, however, then it would be correct for that dialect.
See lessIs this statement, “i see him last night” can be understood as “I saw him last night”?
James Wane
No, ‘I see him last night’ is always incorrect and will be only just barely understandable. It is a very serious and basic error, and it will be tiring for a native speaker to converse with someone who speaks like this, because they will constantly have to be remembering what the person really meansRead more
No, ‘I see him last night’ is always incorrect and will be only just barely understandable. It is a very serious and basic error, and it will be tiring for a native speaker to converse with someone who speaks like this, because they will constantly have to be remembering what the person really means. It will not be ‘immediately obvious without thinking about it’.
Someone just asked this question recently, and I replied, saying that ‘I see him last night’ is never correct. That is exactly what i meant.
See lessIs this statement, “i see him last night” can be understood as “I saw him last night”?
Barry Carter
There is a certain poetic sense in which “I see” works. “I see him last night in my dreams” although not technically correct. However, generally speaking “I saw” is the right usage for past events. Much prose writing in English novels is in the present tense although they are about past events. TheRead more
There is a certain poetic sense in which “I see” works. “I see him last night in my dreams” although not technically correct. However, generally speaking “I saw” is the right usage for past events. Much prose writing in English novels is in the present tense although they are about past events. The author superimposes himself however on the situation as if it were the present.
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